


Hand Hijinx

by Oyasumi



Category: Dangan Ronpa, Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa 3: The End of 希望ヶ峰学園 | The End of Kibougamine Gakuen | End of Hope's Peak High School, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-27
Updated: 2016-11-27
Packaged: 2018-09-02 15:05:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8672059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oyasumi/pseuds/Oyasumi
Summary: Hinata keeps finding Komaeda's robohand in various places, much to his confusion.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for http://komahinasecretexchange.tumblr.com/ as a gift for dulcetpill! The original prompt was:
> 
> Post-sdr2/dr3. Hinata finds out that Komaeda’s new sweet robohand is easily detachable and able to run on its own. So he often finds it in unexpected places doing Things or just chilling. Hinata is a little (just a bit) freaked out and very much amused. He feels that Komaeda’s doing it on purpose to entertain him out of his boredom.

When Hinata woke up one morning to a prosthetic hand standing upright on his dresser, opening and closing its fingers as if to cheerily wave ‘good morning’ to him, he was a little creeped out. (This feeling was in spite of him having helped to make said prosthetic in the first place.) Technically, speaking, it should definitely not be able to do that.  Sure, it was robotic, but it needed Komaeda to power its movements.

Hinata rolled out of bed and picked up the prosthetic arm to examine it - there didn’t seem to be any sort of trick to its current activity.  Suddenly, the fingers wrapped around his wrist to lightly grip him.  He stared down at it, and he could feel his lips start to quirk upward into a smile.  There had to be some kind of explanation, right? He had every talent now, figuring this mystery out should be a piece of cake for him. But as much as he wanted to, he worried about Komaeda being without his arm for too long.

 “Let’s get you back to your owner.”

Hinata quickly headed towards the room Komaeda had claimed for himself aboard the ship that they were all living on. He knocked on the door and worked on prying the arm’s cold, metal fingers off of his wrist while he waited for an answer.

The door opened a bit and Komaeda poked his head out, then smiled brightly and opened the door the rest of the way when he saw who his visitor was. “Ah, Hinata-kun!  What brings you here this early in the morning?” Hinata was a little relieved that Komaeda hadn’t insulted himself - in the past there was a good chance he would have said ‘why are you visiting trash like me?’ It was a little sign that showed that Komaeda was making progress in this past few months.

“Aren’t you missing something?” Hinata held the arm out to him.  It had gone still (‘playing innocent in front of your owner?’ Hinata thought irrationally.)

Komaeda looked a little surprised. “Oh, there you are!” He exclaimed, sounding like he was talking to some kind of unruly animal that had run off. “I was worried about you. Don’t just wander away like that.” After he accepted it from Hinata, it was only a few seconds until he had secured it on himself. “There we go.” He flexed his fingers, making a slightly mechanical whirring noise. “I hope it didn’t give you too much trouble.”

“Komaeda…”  Hinata rubbed his forehead, trying hard not to look amused.

“Hm?”

“I’m not sure I understand how your arm can just wander off on it’s own. Are you saying you didn’t put it in my room?”

Komaeda tilted his head, the very picture of innocence. “Huh?  Why would I do something like that? I need it.”

“Then how did it get into my room?”

“...Maybe it likes you?” Komaeda suggested. Hinata laughed, but stopped when he saw Komaeda wasn’t laughing too. “It’s been wandering off on its own lately, maybe it was trying to find you? When you left the door open it probably saw its chance and snuck in… Well, I suppose that--”

“Komaeda,” Hinata interrupted, “It can’t want anything. It’s a mechanical arm that you control. Souda and I made it together, so I already know how it works.” He said that, and yet the waving and the way it clung to him HAD been a little odd.

“Well, I don’t know then.  I’ll have to keep my eye on it and see what it does! Maybe someone here is pranking both of us?” Komaeda suggested with a shrug.  “How about we forget it for now and go get some breakfast?” Hinata had wanted to discuss the topic more, but he nodded instead.   

* * *

That incident had been the first, but it definitely wasn’t the last. On Wednesday, he was resting on a chair on deck when he caught something glinting in the corner of his eye. When he looked over, the arm was sitting on a chair beside him and gave him a thumbs up. On Friday, he had been using the restroom - when he opened the door, the arm was lying outside the door, twitching. On Saturday, he had gone to get some dinner from the ship’s cafeteria area - and there the arm was, sitting on one of the tables, attempting to pick up a spoon.

Each time he asked Komaeda about it, Komaeda had simply shrugged and put his arm back on. If he had an explanation, he wasn’t talking.  Hinata wasn’t sure why - it’s not like he was upset with Komaeda if he had something to do with it. He thought it was funny, if not a little disturbing.

“I just don’t understand what’s going on with that arm.” Hinata said, leaning against the ship’s railing. The day was sunny and he had found Souda on deck looking out at the ocean, so he had joined him. “We built it, it shouldn’t be able to function like that, so he must be moving it himself right?”

“I dunno. It’s not supposed to do that. Maybe this is his creepy-ass way of telling you he likes you.” Souda suggested. From the uncomfortable look on his face, it seemed like he would rather be discussing literally anything else.

“...Come to think of it, he did mention that he thought his arm liked me.” Hinata said, sheepishly scratching the back of his head. “But I don’t get it. Why would he need to do that? It..it’s not like I don’t know how he feels about me.” He was trying not to blush.

“Look man, I don’t know!” Souda groaned. “I don’t want to be thinking about that guy’s love life or yours, for that matter.” He pulled his hat down almost entirely over his eyes, shielding himself. “D-Did you, y’know, talk to him about it...since he’s woken up?”

“No.” Hinata admitted, “I thought he’d bring it up himself when he was ready.” He hadn’t been sure on how to approach the subject. How could he just ask Komaeda ‘hey, do you remember that time you nearly confessed to me in the simulation?’ Komaeda wasn’t exactly good at hiding his attraction to Hinata (or possibly, the side of him that had Izuru’s talents had just made him better at picking that kind of thing out), but Hinata didn’t want to make Komaeda uncomfortable.

“That might be your problem then! Just go take care of it. Shouldn’t smooth talking be like one of your talents or something?” Souda asked, unimpressed.

“...That still doesn’t explain how he’s making his arm move by itself.” He wanted to direct the conversation back to what it had originally been intended to be.

“Uh well, I don’t know either. We didn’t put anything like that in its mechanics, you know that.” Souda shrugged. “But that guy’s not exactly normal, you know. If you talk things out with him, maybe he’ll tell you himself.”

“Yeah, I guess I’ll have to.” Hinata wasn’t sure he was ready for that conversation yet, but he would try his best.

* * *

“Here Komaeda.” Hinata said, returning the arm once more. He had lost count of how many times he had given it back now. This time he had found the arm hanging from his door knob, amusingly and futilely trying to twist it open.

“Thanks again, Hinata-kun! I’m really sorry that you’ve had to bring it back so many times.” Komaeda popped it back into place. Hinata was surprised that it didn’t act up while it was attached to him - he hadn’t once seen the arm move by itself while Komaeda was wearing it. At least that was one less thing he had to worry about, knowing Komaeda’s luck, the arm would try to strangle its owner or something.

“Komaeda, we need to talk.”

“Hm? About what?” Komaeda didn’t meet his gaze, instead looking out over the sunset that cast the ocean in a fiery shade of orange. Similarly, the sun had changed Komaeda’s normally white hair to gold. Hinata couldn’t help but stare, though he tried not to make it obvious.

Nearby, some of their classmates were talking loudly and playing some sort of game, but Komaeda and Hinata were far enough away that they were still out of earshot. Hinata was grateful for that. “Are you sure you’re not the one who has been putting the arm in weird places? I mean, there’s really no other explanation.” He kept his voice as unassuming as possible.

“Didn’t we already talk about this, Hinata-kun?”

“Ah, yeah.  I guess we have.” Hinata sighed, “I actually wanted to ask you something else. You said it was following me because it liked me, right?”

“That’s right.”

“So I was wondering, um..” Hinata started, wishing he didn’t feel so awkward. Souda was right - smooth talking SHOULD be one of his talents, so why the hell wasn’t it working now? “How do _you_ feel about me?”

Komaeda  looked away from the sunset, down at his metallic arm. He fiddled with its’ fingers. “Why would you ask me that? We talk and hang out together all the time now, isn’t it obvious that we’re friends? Or... do you not consider me a friend?”

“That’s not what I meant.” Hinata was sure Komaeda was just pretending not to understand what he was trying to get at. “I know we’re friends. How about this - do you remember what you said to me in the simulation, before you went through the final dead room?”

Komaeda’s expression darkened, “I said a lot of things.”

“You told me you loved the hope sleeping within me.” Hinata reminded him gently, not sure if he was taking the best approach, “Is that still true?”

“Oh, that’s what you meant.” Komaeda laughed weakly, “I’m sorry for saying something like that, Hinata-kun. I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable. I wish I had an excuse for myself like ‘I wasn’t in my right mind at the time.’ Oh!  But if that would put you at ease, then yes, I wasn’t in my right mind at the time when I said it.”

“Stop apologizing, I didn’t bring it up because I was upset.” Hinata frowned. “Aren’t you just purposely misunderstanding what I’m saying now?” Taking an indirect method wasn’t going to work with Komaeda, Hinata should have known that - Komaeda was too indirect himself for it to be effective.  

“Ah, you caught me.” Komaeda admitted, finally looking up at Hinata. He was smiling that usual carefree smile that Hinata had come to realize was nothing but a lie. “I don’t know why you’re asking me though. If you can remember the simulation so well, I’m sure you already know the answer regarding how I feel about you. But Hinata-kun, I don’t want to trouble you with my feelings. You don’t have to do anything about them. I’m happy just being friends with you.”

“Do you think I would go out of my way just to embarrass you?” Hinata frowned again, a little annoyed. “If your feelings ‘troubled me’, I wouldn’t have started this conversation with you.”

“Then why did you start it?” Komaeda tilted his head.

“Like I said, I just wanted to know how you felt. Because…” Hinata scratched at his cheek, “I’ve been doing some thinking. And I might feel the same way. About you.” He didn’t know how else to put it, so he settled on the most awkward confession of all time.

“Hinata-kun…”  The sun had mostly set now, leaving them in the dark, but Hinata could still see Komaeda’s eyes, wide with disbelief and awe. “You’re not just saying that to make me happy?”

“Of course not.  I like you, Komaeda.” It had taken him surprisingly little time to sort through his feelings - both the feelings he had in the simulation and the feelings he had since they had woken up. He supposed he had his Izuru side to thank for that.

“So what do we do now?  Are we going to start dating?” Komaeda looked like he had no idea what the next step was, and for that matter, neither did Hinata.  

“I guess that’s only logical. Um.. would it be ok if I held your hand then?” Hinata reached out and waited. Komaeda nodded. It so happened that Hinata was sitting on the side with the prosthetic arm, but he gripped it anyway, and Komaeda turned it so that he could squeeze back. “Oh, I do still have one question though. About your arm…” It might not be the right time, but Hinata couldn’t drop his curiosity.

“Er, yeah.. About that..” Komaeda laughed sheepishly.  “Sorry. It was me.” He looked suitably ashamed. “After I got the hang of using my arm, I asked Souda-kun to modify it for me so that I could control it remotely.”

‘ _Why didn’t Souda tell me when I asked him?!’_ Hinata thought - he was going to kill him next time he saw him.

“I told him to keep it a secret.” Komaeda continued, as if reading Hinata’s mind.

 “I knew it!” Hinata wasn’t sure how he missed it the few times he had looked the arm over - he supposed it was something he’d have to take apart and look at to understand. “But why did you do it?”

“I thought maybe you get bored a lot. Since you’re, well, you know… “ He gestured to both of Hinata’s eyes. “Wasn’t that a problem you used to have, when you weren’t yourself? So I wanted to make you laugh and keep you on your toes.”

Hinata smiled, “That was thoughtful of you. I did find it funny. Thank you.”  He was relieved that now that was one mystery solved.  

Komaeda leaned in a little closer to him. “Now that you know, would you mind if I keep doing it? It’s fun and I like surprising you.”

Hinata nodded, “Sure, on one condition.”

“What’s that?”

“You have to let me help you prank everyone else with it.”

Komaeda laughed, “It’s a deal. Maybe that can be our first date.”

Hinata was definitely looking forward to it.  


End file.
